Harvest Report - 25 November

New highs were reached at sites across the CBH network as the co-operative experienced it's biggest day of receivals on record.

On Monday 18 November, the CBH network took in over 620,000 tonnes, setting a new record. This surpassed the previous record set on 2 December 2022, where the CBH network received 603,000 tonnes in a day.

Daily site receival records were broken at eight CBH sites - Gairdner, Nyabing, Mt Madden, Perenjori, Merredin, York, Wickepin and Corrigin.

Chief Operations Officer Mick Daw said it was a success that the entire WA grains industry should be proud of.

"This is a shared success and one which we can all be proud of as a collective WA grain industry - from the farming operations that have grown the crop, the growers and contractors harvesting and safely delivering it, and the CBH frontline employees who are efficiently receiving and storing it in the network," Mr Daw said.

"This is a significant amount of grain, and quite a challenge to visualise. This amount of grain would fill the equivalent of 320 Olympic size swimming pools. If this was stored in one CBH open bulkhead, it would be 4.5 kilometres long.

"If you were to line enough trucks up end to end to hold this amount of grain, you would need 12,400 50-tonne trucks and it would stretch for 450km – the distance from Perth to Albany."

The record day was likely prompted by a forecasted rain event expected to sweep across all zones from Tuesday. This weather system eventuated, bringing harvest to a halt for nearly all growers, influencing CBH to close sites and services across the network.

Still, CBH received nearly 2 million tonnes, with 1,702,900 tonnes being taken across the network in the past seven days, bringing the season total to 8,912,600 tonnes.

Receival Statistics

Zone Summaries

Albany

• The rain event on Tuesday stopped harvest for a few days, with between 2 and 10 millimetres of rain falling across the zone.
• Some growers were able to recommence on Friday, with the balance aiming to restart over the weekend.
• Barley and canola being the main commodities being received, with some wheat received across all areas of the zone.
• All sites in the zone are starting to reopen up after the rain event, with some sites running on minimal staff until harvest picks up again.
• Albany zone broke its daily receival record on Monday 18 December with 138,800 tonnes delivered for that day. Nyabing and Gairdner both broke their daily receival records on that day, taking 8,600 tonnes and 11,300 tonnes respectively.

Esperance

• It was a promising start to the week in the Esperance Zone, but rainfall on Tuesday once again slowed down the pace of receivals.
• Monday marked the highest volume of receivals for the Esperance Zone, coming close to our all-time daily record. More than 113,000 tonnes were recorded across the zone as growers hurried to complete their deliveries before the anticipated rain on Tuesday.
• All commodities are being received throughout the zone, with growers nearing the completion of their canola programs. However, substantial hectares of barley and wheat remain to be harvested.
• Many site segregations were closed following the Tuesday rainfall event, however the majority have now reopened or are very close to doing so. Cycle times for the zone are currently 48 minutes
• Mount Madden set a new daily receival record again on Monday 18 November with 8,654 tonnes, topping the new record of 8,130 tonnes only set on Wednesday 13 November. Both Munglinup and West River experienced their second biggest days on record. 

Geraldton

• Heavy rainfall hit the Geraldton Zone on Tuesday 19 November and continued into Wednesday, with some areas getting over 50mm of rain.
• The wet weather will likely delay most growers in the zone and we don’t expect to start seeing decent tonnages coming in until today or tomorrow.
• We have received over 1.7 million tonnes for the season, with a 102,000 tonnes being received on Monday.
• All commodities are still open for receivals; however, barley and canola have dropped off with wheat making up most of the tonnes delivered in the last seven days.
• All services are available but not at every site; please remember to check the CDF app before heading to site.
• The Narngulu and Perenjori sites have both broken their daily receival totals, taking in over 13,600 tonnes on 11 November and 6,400 tonnes on 18 November, respectively.

Kwinana North

• Weather has all but stopped harvest across the zone since Tuesday afternoon.
• We have received over 2 million tonnes so far this year, with only 281,700 tonnes coming in in the last seven days.
• Canola receivals have slowed and we have passed our estimate. Wheat is now the major commodity being delivered.
• We broke our daily receival record at Merredin on Monday 18 November, receiving 21,571 tonnes.

Kwinana South

• Harvest continued at a decent pace at the start of last week, with some record volumes being received on Monday.
• However due to inclement weather, receivals all but ceased from Tuesday 19 November, with only small volumes trickling in from field bins. 
• Most growers switched to wheat prior to Tuesday's rain event, however we have only received half of our canola and barley harvest estimates, indicating growers have more to progress with these programs.
• All major sites and service are now open and receiving all commodities. 
• Cycle times have been slower this week.
• Daily receival records broken at the York, Corrigin, and Wickepin sites, taking 14,200 tonnes, 9,400 tonnes and 8,100 tonnes respectively.